Premier League Fergie Time

The Premier League’s midweek fixtures saw some interesting results, as Spurs lost 2-1 against Leicester and Manchester United survived a scare against Watford. After Premier League Extra Time was published on Monday (if you want to read that, click here), it seemed appropriate to give this a blog a different name, one which demonstrated just how extra the whole thing is… Hence “Premier League Fergie Time”

Using our Sports Hub, we found 5 stories from the midweek matches from social media which you might have missed.

Young shows no signs of ageing

Ashley Young is having arguably his best season in a Manchester United shirt so far in 2017/18. The 32 year old has seen plenty of competition for his spot in the team or on the bench come and go over the years, but it has never seemed so certain that the Englishman would be the number one choice at Old Trafford. Young was the most talked about player during the week, as his two goals helped United to a 4-2 win over Watford. Fans reacted with 39% positivity (2% negative, 59% neutral) to his performance, but it was the emotional responses which really caught the eye. 38% of fans “liked” Young’s performance, with a further 33% “wowed” by his free kick.

Sanches Suffering

Renato Sanches has not had the best time of it since his loan move from Bayern Munich to Swansea was finalised towards the end of the summer transfer window. The Portuguese midfielder was hailed as the star of the future when he moved to Bayern after the 2016 Euros, but a poor first season in Bavaria saw him move to South Wales in a bid to reignite the magic which saw the German giants buy him in the first place. Last night, however, might have seen the youngster hit a new low…

You will have a very, very hard time finding a worse half than the one Renato Sanches had today. Absolutely shocking.

After playing a pass to the advertising hoarding during an awful first half, Sanches was taken out of the game by manager Paul Clement. Given the negativity surrounding his performance, it shows just how bad his recent form has been that it didn’t result in a huge negative swing in sentiment for Sanches.

Main Mane Firmino

Roberto Firmino certainly demonstrated his ability to be a great team-mate, as Liverpool beat Stoke 3-0 with a goal from Sadio Mane and 2 from Mo Salah. Mane was going to score, with Firmino following in from a yard out: the Brazilian could easily have stolen the goal, possibly with one of his trademark no look finishes, but instead chose to be the “main man” for Mane and let the Senegalese winger take the goal.

Firmino letting that roll in instead of snaking Mane’s goal. That’s the kind of mate I need in life

Mark Hughes’ Stoke side were torn apart by Bobby and co., losing 3-0 and now sit just 3 points above the relegation zone. Fans were quick to express their displeasure, with 30% of conversation negative (11% positive, 59% neutral). It was the emotional reactions which really damned Hughes though, with 64% of emotion bearing tweets expressing anger.

Stoke fans have started calling for Hughes to go. Could it only be a matter of time before the next Premier League managerial casualty?

Stoke have picked up 5 wins from our last 25 games,22 points from a possible 75 available How can he stay?#HughesOut

We took a look at who was hot (definitely not Big Shaq) during the midweek games, with some surprising players generating plenty of conversation. Jesse Lingard saw the largest proportional increase in conversation, with a whopping 14,058% more tweets being sent about him on Tuesday compared to United’s previous game. Wayne Rooney’s wonder goal and hat-trick, and Sanches’ horror show increased conversation surrounding both of them for very different reasons, whilst the return of Erik Lamela to the Spurs starting 11 after injury saw a boost in the number of tweets sent about him too. Dominic Solanke rounds out the top 5, justifying the horrendous attempt at a subtitle which, quite frankly, I’m already ashamed of.

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